Camelot Unchained falls behind schedule, alpha test delayed into 2015

Remember Camelot Unchained ? It's an MMO being developed by City State Entertainment, a studio founded by Mark Jacobs, who also happens to be a co-founder of Dark Age of Camelot developer Mythic Entertainment. It rang up more than $2.2 millon on Kickstarter in May 2013, and has presumably been going quietly about its business ever since. But the studio revealed recently that things are running behind schedule, and the alpha test it hoped to have ready for August won't actually get rolling until next year.

The problems stem from the studio's inability to meet its need for engineers until May of this year, which forced it to focus "the vast majority of our programming resources only on tech foundations of the engine," Jacobs wrote in an update . That led to a slowdown in the hiring of artists and the creation of in-game assets, and also meant that studio executives spent a significant amount of time on hiring new employees rather than on the actual game.

The good news, Jacobs said, is that even though it's behind schedule, the development of Camelot Unchained is going very well. Newly-hired engineers are "meeting or exceeding" expectations, and the slowed hiring process actually allowed the studio to save some money. He also announced what he called "the Alpha Guarantee": If the alpha test doesn't launch by the end of February 2015, all backers will be rewarded with Founder's Points, CSE points and free subscription days.

"While we know we don't have to promise this, we think it is the right thing to do," he wrote. "Delays happen, but if we are delayed again, well, that means we aren't doing our job properly."